TOP PRODUCERS: Get the Appointment

Knowing Your Customer: Who IS the Top Producer?

The average top producing realtor has been in the business for 13 years, the highest recorded number to date. What does this mean? Answer: More experience than ever. And most important, they have high expectations of their title company.

For those of you who have been in the business a while, you have probably noticed how the average real estate professional changed over the past 10 years. Not only do they now require a higher degree of professionalism, but with the progression of the computers, they are much more technologically saavy ~ websites, online selling, etc. You have probably already noticed a shift from print to online media as a huge trend for the real estate industry. What does this all mean to you? As the needs of a top producer change, so will your ability to address the needs of this future business partner. The first step to becoming a true business partner to this individual is knowing who your client is.

What Do Top Producers Want?
RightNow routinely interviews top producers nationwide asking this exact same question. Over 300 interviews later, and over the course of the last six months, we have found their top tiered WANTS quite interesting:

• Their Check – First and foremost, top producers want to be paid in a timely and efficient manner. This is clearly the one thing that matters to them most.
• Referral Business – More often than not, the closing process is the final step for the buyers/sellers, and makes the most lasting impression. If the closing is bungled, it reflects badly on the agent. Top producers require a smooth closing process in order to ensure future business from these buyers/sellers. Not only that, but their desire is to gain referral business as a result of their efforts. When was the last time your escrow officers or sales representatives asked (on behalf of the realtor) for referrals upon close of a file?
• To Be Perceived as an Informed Expert – Their choice of vendor support reflects directly on how they are perceived by their clients. If the closing process is smooth, they will perceive that the realtor knows their business, and knows the professionals to trust with their transaction.
• To Look Good – Because closing is the final step in what could be the most significant purchase a client has made, the final impression will be the most lasting. They want the agent on the other end of the transaction to think highly of them; they need their client to think highly of them, and they want you to think highly of them, too. We need to feed this notion at every opportunity.
  

It all starts with making your top priority knowing what their top priority is ~ to increase their business, or a way to improve their business by working less. You are bringing VALUE to them.

Getting the Appointment
Let’s examine some examples of a hierarchical relationship, where one party contributes more value than the other. A parent/child, a teacher/student, a doctor/patient. Now let’s examine some examples of an inter-dependent relationship, where both parties are on equal footing: A sibling/sibling, a husband/wife, a good friendship.

The key lies herein on your ability to have the relationship be perceived as valuable ~ the early stages of the interdependent relationship. You need to position yourself as a professional and be able to communicate the potential impact of YOUR involvement in their business. Top producers will not meet with you unless you can convey a compelling reason to do so. But, if you feel you have nothing to offer a top producer, then you better develop a skill that would support them, to create their efficiencies.

We know that the two core needs of most top producers are to grow their business or improve efficiencies with in their business (so that they have more free time). Do your homework. Research your targets by their use of internet, MLS, newspaper and real estate magazines. Find out how they market themselves and what they’re saying in their advertisements. Often times your targets will give you all the information you need in order to approach them.

Communicating Your Value
In person, it is a concise declaration of the value you could potentially bring to an agent’s business, following with a request for an appointment.

1. My goal is ~
2. A percent or number ~
3. Define with a timeframe ~
4. End with a request for an appointment

As an example, if I were calling the top agent of ABC Realty, I might use the following:

“Mr. Top Producer, when I work for an agent, one of my goals is to bring them 4 additional transactions to their business a year, as a direct result of my efforts. Do you have some time Monday to meet with me and allow me to tell you how I would do this?”

This statement has to be sincere. You must mean what you say. Remember although this is a goal, it not a promise, and you will do your very best to achieve it.

Do NOT interview on the phone. Every time you receive a ‘no’ to an appointment, set a specific time and day for follow up. Your follow through in calling will demonstrate your attention to detail and the fact that you have systems in place. Your prospects will notice this. They don’t really think you’ll call, but when you do, it’s impressive. Sales is about perseverance.
Not every top producer will meet with you. But, RightNow has measured time and time again the impact of using this approach, and, we continue to find that our clients have doubled their ability to get in front of top producers.

Asking for an appointment is a BIG first step. Start there and work up to the interview. Most success in sales is gained simply asking in the first place. Remember the answer is “No” unless you ask. If 80% of the business is handled by 20% of the agents, aren’t top producers worth the investment of your time?